AOB1: Analysis of existing product

Introduction
Space Marine is a Hack & Slash, third-person RPG that allows the player to step into the boots of a Space Marine, eight-foot tall giants with a wide arsenal of weaponry and a duty to protect mankind. Set on an industrial Forge World in the far future, the game initially charges the player with taking out a horde of savage orks, before launching into a plotline much darker and more deceptive.

Product
Space Marine is a game for both Xbox 360 and PS3, and utilizes a complicated graphics engine to craft outlandish and surreal landscapes, realistic characters and brutal combat to immerse the player in a grim, dark Sci-fi world where every different environment holds something new.
The graphics system runs flawlessly with both consoles, making for a smooth, rich game for the player to lose themselves in.
Space Marine got plenty of attention before it's initial release for Xbox 360, with it's first teaser trailer in 2011 prompting speculation amongst both fans and media companies and online magazines.
Since the first teaser trailer, Space Marine has undergone several graphical makeovers, two changes in the game's graphical engine and several changes in gameplay style.
Advertising truly began with a full-length trailer in early 2011, which advertised the game and the main characters, as well as the Orks and the darker forces of Chaos.
Space Marine's release was much anticipated by fans of the Dawn Of War franchise and Relic Entertainment's previous release for PS2, Fire Warrior, which featured the Space Marines as antagonists.
Relic began advertising the game through other means, allowing websites like Youtube to play still-shot advertisements as well as advertising on the official Relic facebook channel.
High street shops like Game Station and HMV began advertising the game with cutouts and posters, spreading the game's popularity to those outside the franchise's main audience.
A few months after it's debut release, Space Marine received two expansion packs on Xbox Live after the game's initial success.
The first pack, Chaos Unleashed, allowed the player to step into the boots of the enemy and play as a renegade Chaos Space Marine in multiplayer, and also added a new mode to the game called Exterminatus. Three new maps were also added to the game with a more 'hellish' feel to accompany the playable role of Chaos.
The second pack, 'The Dreadnought', added a new multiplayer mode called Dreadnought Assault, in which a player can take control of a twenty-foot tall walking tank known as a Dreadnought. Both expansion packs were met with great success, and heralded a sudden increase in purchase of the game.

Price
Space Marine's initial cost of production was estimated at twice the game's final cost of production, due to Relic's insistence on a constantly living background environment (e.g: ships flying overhead while the player is moving through the game environment), but game designers speculated that the budget wouldn't be able to handle that as well as the game's current mechanics, and also stated that it would make the game unbalanced in terms of graphics.
Space Marine hit shops on 9th of September 2011, at the retail price of £34.99 for the high street shop Game, £39.99 for HMV, £29.99 for Gamestation and £33.50 for Amazon.
The two expansion packs cost 400 and 320 Xbox points respectively.


Promotion
Space Marine's methods of promotion were mostly below-the-line methods, incorporating websites and other companies to advertise the game.
A month before the game's release, the official website was launched with artwork of the main character filling the main page, and a countdown until the game's release.

Place
Space Marine became available to pre-order online from the official website, from Amazon, Play.com and Game on the 6th, three days before it's official release in high-street shops like Game, Game station and HMV.
Despite using Below The Line promotion methods, Space Marine gathered a large audience, even outside its target genre.

Conclusion
Despite receiving mixed reviews, Space Marine has been branded as the must-have hack & slash sci-fi game of 2011, with approval from publications like Xbox Magazine, Gamer Pro and Game Magazine.
With its fast-paced gameplay, stunning graphics and richly-detailed environments, Space Marine is a must-have for fans of the sci-fi genre and for those veterans of the Dawn Of War franchise and Relic's 2002 1st Person Shooter, Fire Warrior.
The marketing campaign has been an overall success, with Space Marine receiving an official game rating of 78.13% despite mixed reviews from sites like GamePro, who described the game as "Linear and uninspired".
Sales figures for the game exceeded expectations, with the tidy sum of $146 million far outweighing the predicted figures of $77.1 million.